


Light

by stardustedknuckles



Series: Holiday Snapshots [1]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, Christmas Party, F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M, Modern AU, Multi, Other, and they're all neurodivergent because I said so, just let them be soft, light angst (past), molly drives a beater, photographer!Yasha, some swearing bc Beau, you know he does
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:14:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26353246
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustedknuckles/pseuds/stardustedknuckles
Summary: Beau runs an errand to keep the m9 Christmas party on schedule and takes a moment to reflect on what a lit house might mean to her.
Relationships: Beauregard Lionett/Yasha, Polynein, Will update as I go - Relationship, background caleb/molly, background fjorclay - Relationship, bueayashter if you squint, i don't wanna tag like this is all set in stone, look they're all just vibing
Series: Holiday Snapshots [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914979
Comments: 5
Kudos: 101





	Light

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of what I hope will be many tiny one-shots around the Christmas party polynein AU that was birthed, as many great ideas are, from a bunch of nerds tossing "what ifs" at each other unsupervised in a discord server. What if everyone owned a home together and Trees and Kiri were regular neighborhood visitors/friends of Luc's? What if everyone was just relentlessly soft and nothing hurt? What if I couldn't live without Beau with sweater paws and the contrivances to get her to have them? What if everyone was neurodivergent in some way because we look for ourselves in our favorite characters?

"Beau, can you please get us some more eggnog? Molly and the kids will be here any minute."

Beau leaned against the doorframe and crossed her arms. "What's in it for me?"

Jester reached out quick as a flash and booped Beau's nose with an icing-laden finger, unperturbed by Beau's frown. "Eggnog, duh!" She returned to enthusiastic stirring of sugar cookie batter, her tongue poking out the side of her blue lips (speckled, Beau noticed fondly, with sugar crystals). Her tail lashed lazily from underneath the string of her apron, the surest sign Beau had yet to see that Jester was about as happy as she knew how to be. Which was a lot, really -- Beau never got tired of seeing it. 

The corner of her mouth quirked as she pulled her phone from her back pocket to take a photo. "Hey Jes, look at me."

Jester turned and grinned over her shoulder, and Beau's smile grew in response as she tapped the button and returned the device to her pocket.

She felt Yasha approach just before her muscled arm bumped against Beau's. "That's my job," Yasha said with a mock pout.

Beau leaned into Yasha's chest and looked up to grin unashamedly. "Good assistants keep backups," she said. 

"Oh you're my assistant now, are you? Because-" She reached out and wiped the icing off Beau's face with a finger and licked it - "I require a professional appearance."

Beau's mouth was completely dry. "Whatever you like."

Jester reached over and snapped at Beau. "Eggnog Beau, please! Yasha, tell her we need her to get eggnog, it's important."

Yasha slid an arm between them and began nudging Beau off of her without any real intent. "I think you should listen to Jester, Beau." 

Beau frowned and pushed back harder against Yasha's chest. "It's almost dark and it's gonna snow."

"I thought you didn't get cold," Yasha teased, poking at Beau's characteristically bare arm.

Beau opened her mouth to protest, but it came out muffled as Yasha swooped her sweater off and over Beau's head in one smooth motion. "There," she said mildly as the thrashing Beau smacked against the wall. "Now you can't complain." 

"That's cheating," Beau said when her head poked out. She rubbed the knuckles of the impacted hand and tugged at the fabric over her arms, smiling. "Also this is mine now." Beau gripped Yasha's biceps and leaned up to kiss her before she could refute her claim, then slipped past her with a "back in a few" tossed Jester's way and darted out the back door. Night was a looming promise behind the washed-out grays of a late winter afternoon; she'd need to hurry. She took a deep breath, smiling as the cold filled her lungs. No worries. She hit the ground at a dead sprint, following the trail she knew like the back of her hand to the 24/7 convenience store.

The door dinged with the familiar cheap-ass bell sound as warmth washed over Beau's flushed face for a brief moment of discomfort before fading. She'd bought that shitty bell just so her nerves could handle being in the store for five seconds without the sound of fucking jingle bells rattling against the door when the air was on, and she reflected for a moment on what a stellar idea that had been as she threw a wave to the familiar face behind the counter on her squeaky way to the mixer section. Beau pushed up the sleeves of Yasha's damp sweater (pausing to sniff the collar and smile privately) and grabbed three cartons of eggnog. After a moment of hesitation, she piled two more in her arms and snagged a box of candy canes on the way to the register.

"Can't have a celebration without it," James commented, nodding sagely at her spoils. 

Beau blew a strand of hair out of her eyes and grinned. "Not if you're Jester," she agreed. "You take the holiday shift cuz you had nothing better to do?"

He picked up a carton of eggnog and typed something in before scanning it and setting it aside. "Couldn't make it up to see the family and get the belts on the car done." Beau made a noise of careless sympathy. James was usually in the mood to press his luck with her surly schtick, and she had to get back. "You look kinda happy today," he said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Called it. 

"A dozen cookies to keep your comments to yourself," Beau retorted, slapping a twenty on the counter. 

"Depends on who made 'em." James quipped as he loaded up two black plastic bags with Beau's spoils. 

Beau scoffed. "It's a party, man. Jester would straight up commit murder if she wasn't in charge of the cookies." 

"Right," said James. "Shutting up then." He held Beau's change over her outstretched hand, lips pursed against whatever he was thinking. 

Beau rolled her eyes. "Fine, spit it out. But I'm taking a cookie for every word I don't like." 

"It's just that your sweater looks…sleeved. And oversized." He grinned and dropped her change, ignoring Beau's performative sneer. "Borrowed?" He called as she stomped off.

"You lost two for that stupid grin," Beau called in his vague direction as she pushed the door open with her butt and slipped out onto the sidewalk, letting the door and its gathered condensation fall shut on James's unperturbed smile and wave. The glow pooling from neon signs in the windows washed her in pinks and greens and yellows as their light stretched to take over the domain of the dying and cloudy evening.

She didn't feel like chancing the jog back with heavy bags, so dusk had properly fallen in the fifteen minutes it took her to walk home. As she rounded the mailbox, Something in the air tugged at Beau's thoughts. Even as her cheeks and nose felt edged with frost and exposure, Beau paused at the top of the driveway to stare at the house. Her breath clouded delicately before her around the first flakes of the evening's promised six inches. 

The lights Fjord and Molly had strung along the front ("no, Caleb, no magic. This is sacred labor. But keep Caduceus informed just in case") gleamed every color of the rainbow and more ("okay, just a little magic Caleb") above the amber glow of the kitchen, living room, and dining room windows. Caleb himself was just visible under the tree, adding the last of his wrapped presents to the pile as Caduceus took the empty boxes of decorations up to storage and out of sight. The dining room table was immaculate in its decorations through the next window, and Jester was chatting animatedly with Veth in the kitchen. On the second floor, an intricate white wreath shone from the otherwise dark window of Caleb's bedroom, and Jester's was bordered from the inside by a rope of warm white chasers. Beau's jaw was clenched, she realized. She unclenched it.

The thing about the windows and the light was this: Beau could not recall a time growing up when coming home to a house with all the lights on was in any way a good thing. A dark house meant she'd pulled it off - whatever it happened to be this time. She'd scoffed at this when asked, the idea of coming home to a bright, warm house full of people who were waiting for her and who wanted her there. She'd rebuffed it for years. And now, here she was. Bringing home and saving the proverbial bacon in order to pull off the greatest holiday party basically ever. 

She blinked hard (that damn cold wind making her eyes water) as she heard Molly's beat-up sedan crunch onto gravel, headlights sweeping her shadow across the face of the garage and turning the snow caught in their glare into a relentless sparkle before going dark. Doors opened and slammed immediately -- with an extra one for the stubborn passenger side door -- and Beau turned with a smile as Luc, Kiri, and Trees burst from inside to spill across the yard like scattered, excitable jacks shouting her name and waving their arms.

She laughed as their little bodies slammed into her, cushioned by their puffy coats and knit hats and scarves. "Watch the candy canes," she chuckled, shifting her bags to free up a hand and ruffle the heads barely reaching her stomach.

"Candy canes, candy canes." Kiri pulled back and made little motions until she let the girl take one of her bags. Trees bounced excitedly for the other, and Luc ran ahead to open the door as they all tumbled into the wash of warm light like a pile of puppies to the audible delight of everyone inside. 

She heard the shuffle as Molly came to stand next to her and watch quietly. He was smiling out of the corner of her eye, an expression as soft as she felt. He placed an amicable hand on her shoulder, and for once Beau didn't shrug him off. "Pretty cool, huh?" She gestured. "All that. Waiting for us."

He squeezed her shoulder fondly. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it," he confessed. "I didn't think I'd get to have this. I don't think many of us did."

"Yeah," Beau said softly. She remembered again the skinny girl sighing with relief at the sight of a dark house, and thought for just a moment what it might be like if she could only go back and tell herself what was coming. She looked at Molly full on, noticing his outerwear for the first time. "Nice coat." 

He grinned and preened, rubbing two fingers against the collar of what was, of course, Caleb's coat. "Always a fan of old, worn leather." He considered. "Any leather, really. All kinds." 

Beau rolled her eyes. "God, you never stop." She started towards the house. "Let's go in. S'fucking cold."

"Even in that not-at-all familiar sweater?" Molly said innocently as he fell in step with her. "If we're talking about preferences and borrowed things, how's--" He broke off laughing as Beau assaulted him with the flaps of fabric hanging past her fingers, making a show of ducking and covering as he pushed open the door and ran inside. Giggling, Beau caught the door he tried to close on her behind him and slipped inside the warmth and light of the nein. 

From the kitchen, a smiling Yasha raised her camera towards them.

*click*

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written for a specific group of people (and myself) but I'm super glad if you enjoyed it! I was thinking of a Jester-centric scene next.


End file.
